The first round is pretty much already being played for the confrences that have championship games. This would keep the regular season important. Troy would only play in the confrence championship because they are the 2nd best team in the confrence. As far as traveling, that could be a problem, but if you get rid of 1 or even 2 games during the season and make the bowl games central to the region I think fans would go. Hell the follow them during the NCAA tourny.